Can Hillary Clinton step out of Bill's NAFTA shadow?

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28. The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state was the first woman to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Before marrying Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here she attends Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her commencement speech at Wellesley's graduation ceremony in 1969 attracted national attention. After graduating, she attended Yale Law School.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Rodham was a lawyer on the House Judiciary Committee, whose work led to impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in 1974.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

In 1975, Rodham married Bill Clinton, whom she met at Yale Law School. He became the governor of Arkansas in 1978. In 1980, the couple had a daughter, Chelsea.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Arkansas' first lady, now using the name Hillary Rodham Clinton, wears her inaugural ball gown in 1985.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The Clintons celebrate Bill's inauguration in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1991. He was governor from 1983 to 1992, when he was elected President.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Bill Clinton comforts his wife on the set of "60 Minutes" after a stage light broke loose from the ceiling and knocked her down in January 1992.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

In June 1992, Clinton uses a sewing machine designed to eliminate back and wrist strain. She had just given a speech at a convention of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union.

Clinton accompanies her husband as he takes the oath of office in January 1993.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The Clintons share a laugh on Capitol Hill in 1993.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton unveils the renovated Blue Room of the White House in 1995.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton waves to the media in January 1996 as she arrives for an appearance before a grand jury in Washington. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. The Clintons' business investment was investigated, but ultimately they were cleared of any wrongdoing.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The Clintons hug as Bill is sworn in for a second term as President.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The first lady holds up a Grammy Award, which she won for her audiobook "It Takes a Village" in 1997.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The Clintons dance on a beach in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 1998. Later that month, Bill Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton looks on as her husband discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998. Clinton declared, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." In August of that year, Clinton testified before a grand jury and admitted to having "inappropriate intimate contact" with Lewinsky, but he said it did not constitute sexual relations because they had not had intercourse. He was impeached in December on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

The first family walks with their dog, Buddy, as they leave the White House for a vacation in August 1998.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

President Clinton makes a statement at the White House in December 1998, thanking members of Congress who voted against his impeachment. The Senate trial ended with an acquittal in February 1999.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton announces in February 2000 that she will seek the U.S. Senate seat in New York. She was elected later that year.

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Clinton makes her first appearance on the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Sen. Clinton comforts Maren Sarkarat, a woman who lost her husband in the September 11 terrorist attacks, during a ground-zero memorial in October 2001.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton holds up her book "Living History" before a signing in Auburn Hills, Michigan, in 2003.

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Clinton and another presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, applaud at the start of a Democratic debate in 2007.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, in June 2008. She had recently ended her presidential campaign and endorsed Obama.

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Obama is flanked by Clinton and Vice President-elect Joe Biden at a news conference in Chicago in December 2008. He had designated Clinton to be his secretary of state.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton, as secretary of state, greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a meeting just outside Moscow in March 2010.

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The Clintons pose on the day of Chelsea's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky in July 2010.

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In this photo provided by the White House, Obama, Clinton, Biden and other members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton checks her Blackberry inside a military plane after leaving Malta in October 2011. In 2015, The New York Times reported that Clinton exclusively used a personal email account during her time as secretary of state. The account, fed through its own server, raises security and preservation concerns. Clinton later said she used a private domain out of "convenience," but admits in retrospect "it would have been better" to use multiple emails.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton arrives for a group photo before a forum with the Gulf Cooperation Council in March 2012. The forum was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Obama and Clinton bow during the transfer-of-remains ceremony marking the return of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who were killed in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton ducks after a woman threw a shoe at her while she was delivering remarks at a recycling trade conference in Las Vegas in 2014.

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Clinton, now running for President again, performs with Jimmy Fallon during a "Tonight Show" skit in September 2015.

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Clinton testifies about the Benghazi attack during a House committee meeting in October 2015. "I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together," she said during the 11-hour hearing. "I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done." Months earlier, Clinton had acknowledged a "systemic breakdown" as cited by an Accountability Review Board, and she said that her department was taking additional steps to increase security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders shares a lighthearted moment with Clinton during a Democratic presidential debate in October 2015. It came after Sanders gave his take on the Clinton email scandal. "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about the damn emails," Sanders said. "Enough of the emails. Let's talk about the real issues facing the United States of America."

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton is reflected in a teleprompter during a campaign rally in Alexandria, Virginia, in October 2015.

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Clinton walks on her stage with her family after winning the New York primary in April.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

After Clinton became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, this photo was posted to her official Twitter account. "To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want -- even president," Clinton said. "Tonight is for you."

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Obama hugs Clinton after he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The president said Clinton was ready to be commander in chief. "For four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment and her discipline," he said, referring to her stint as his secretary of state.

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Photos:Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight

Clinton arrives at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York on September 11. Clinton, who was diagnosed with pneumonia two days before, left early after feeling ill. A video appeared to show her stumble as Secret Service agents helped her into a van.

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Clinton addresses a campaign rally in Cleveland on November 6, two days before Election Day. She went on to lose Ohio -- and the election -- to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

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After conceding the presidency to Trump in a phone call earlier, Clinton addresses supporters and campaign workers in New York on Wednesday, November 9. Her defeat marked a stunning end to a campaign that appeared poised to make her the first woman elected US president.

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Story highlights

A new Pacific Rim pact is giving liberal critics of 1990s free trade deals a new reason to target Hillary Clinton

The debate could hamper Clinton with the Democratic base if she launches a 2016 presidential bid

Washington (CNN)Two decades later, Hillary Clinton is still haunted by the ghosts of NAFTA.

Labor unions and liberal activists are preparing to highlight free trade — an issue central to Bill and Hillary Clinton's political brand in the early 1990s — if she opts to run for president in 2016.

Driving their anger: The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive new pact that that would usurp the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement's place as the biggest-ever free trade agreement. President Barack Obama's administration has been negotiating the Chile-to-Japan deal for years, and it's increasingly drawing scrutiny from the Democratic base as the talks near completion.

The new deal has reminded labor halls across the country of the old one — and that it was their biggest problem with the Clintons.

Compounding the problem is that free trade, particularly NAFTA, is an issue that Clinton has vacillated on since her husband's administration.

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As first lady, Clinton backed NAFTA and spoke highly of it at stops for the administration. But once she was elected to the Senate and later ran for president, her support of free trade -- and her husband's landmark agreement -- began to wane. On the campaign trail, Clinton acknowledged that NAFTA has "hurt a lot of American workers" and advocated for broad reform of trade policy. President Barack Obama's campaign even used the flip-flop against Clinton during the 2008 primary.

But after Clinton lost the nomination and agreed to serve as the President's Secretary of State, she began to warm up to free trade, and particularly the TPP.

Hillary Clinton's stance on President Barack Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership will be closely watched if she runs for the White House in 2016.

In her memoir, which Clinton's spokesman said was her most updated statement on the TPP, Clinton wrote, "It's safe to say that the TPP won't be perfect. No deal negotiated among a dozen countries ever will be - but its higher standards, if implemented and enforced, should benefit American businesses and workers."

That history worries some labor leaders who are prepared to hold Clinton to a standard that includes her support of free trade agreements.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told CNN the issue of free trade could hang over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont says he'll make it a centerpiece of his campaign if he runs for president.

And union workers across the country - including some who lined up to see Clinton speak at a labor hall in 2014 - are talking about it, too.

"I think NAFTA itself will be remembered for as long as this generation draws a warm breath," Richard Trumka said in an interview. "When I talk to people about it, they don't remember that it was a Republican majority that passed NAFTA. They remember that it was President Clinton."

Labor leaders see Clinton's 1994 signing of NAFTA, which created a free-trade zone with Canada and Mexico, as the moment when blue collar wages began to stagnate.

Trumka said that free trade -- especially the TPP -- is one of the biggest priorities for the AFL-CIO and something that the group will use to gauge their support of candidates in 2015 and 2016. The issue is part of the group's "Raising Wages" priority plan which looks to raise the wages of all Americans.

The longtime labor leader, whose relationship with the Clintons goes back decades, said it was up to Hillary Clinton whether the legacy of NAFTA will hurt her campaign.

"It all depends on what her position is on trade. If her position on trade is that NAFTA is really a good thing and I want to continue it, it will definitely hurt her," he said. "All politicians, Democrats and Republicans, take about raising wages. But you can't be for raising wages while being for the same old trade policies."

That's where the Trans-Pacific Partnership — which liberal activists have taken to calling "NAFTA on steroids" — comes in.

It isn't only Trumka, though, that will likely apply pressure on Clinton regarding free trade. Two outspoken liberal senators -- both of whom have been followed by 2016 speculation -- have come out strong against the TPP.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent considering a 2016 Democratic presidential bid, could be among Hillary Clinton's top critics on trade from the left.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, came out against the TPP earlier in 2014 and recently wrote a letter that accused the White House of crafting the deal in secret.

In an interview, the outspoken senator that while the concept of trade "is a good idea," trade agreements like NAFTA and TPP have been raw deals for American workers.

"It was very clear to me that any agreement that forces American workers to compete against desperate, desperate people who are working for pennies an hour is grotesquely unfair," Sanders said, recalling the 1990s when he traveled to Mexico to see the working and living conditions of workers producing goods sold in the U.S.

Unlike some labor and liberal leaders, Sanders does not hang NAFTA on Hillary Clinton. "Hillary Clinton was not the president. Bill Clinton was the president," he said. "Hillary will have to speak to her own views on trade."

That said, though, Sanders has brought free trade up on every trip he has made to Iowa -- the first-in-the-nation caucus state -- and when asked whether he would make the issue a key part of his possible presidential run he bluntly said: "I will give you a three letter answer to that - the answer is y-e-s."

Joining Sanders is Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who told an AFL-CIO audience recently that liberals "believe in trade policies and tax codes that will strengthen our economy, that will raise our standard of living, that will create American jobs because we will never give up on these three words: made in America."

Warren has also written a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman questioning the deal.

The fact that Warren and Sanders are involved means this issue is not going away, especially for Clinton. Both represent the former first lady's left flank and are politicians who don't even need to run for president to dictate some of the issues that become big campaign issues.

Clinton is a moving target on NAFTA

The Clintons' political brand was connected to free trade in the 1990s.

Bill Clinton still defends NAFTA as a good deal for America. Just last November, at the 10th anniversary of the Clinton Library, the former President said, "NAFTA is still controversial but people will thank me for it in 20 years."

Hillary Clinton has waffled on the issue, though.

As first lady, Clinton backed NAFTA.

"I think that everybody is in favor of free and fair trade," she said during a meeting with union workers in 1996, "and I think that NAFTA is proving its worth." In her 2003 memoir, "Living History," Clinton also writes glowingly about NAFTA, including it among her husband's "legislative victories" and noting it would "expand U.S. exports, create jobs and ensure that our economy was reaping the benefits, not the burdens, of globalization."

But when she entered the Senate in 2000 and ran for president in 2008, Clinton's tune on free trade began to change. She conducted a study as senator that found the agreement hurt New York workers' ability to sell goods in Canada and spoke out against NAFTA during her 2008 campaign.

"NAFTA and the way it's been implemented has hurt a lot of American workers," Clinton said at a 2007 forum with the AFL-CIO. "Clearly we have to have a broad reform in how we approach trade. NAFTA's a piece of it, but it's not the only piece of it."

Clinton lost her race for president, though, and went on to serve as Barack Obama's secretary of state. In the role, she oversaw the President's much noted pivot to Asia. At the center of that move was the TPP.

"One of our most important tools for engaging with Vietnam was a proposed new trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would link markets throughout Asia and the Americas, lowering trade barriers while raising standards on labor, the environment, and intellectual property," Clinton wrote in her 2014 memoir "Hard Choices."

As secretary of state, Clinton also talked up the benefits of the TPP and during a trip to Korea in 2011, she advocated for "as few barriers to trade and investment as possible."

When asked for Clinton's current position on free trade and the TPP, a spokesman pointed CNN to what the former secretary of state wrote in her book.

Republicans have picked up on the problem for Clinton and have started to point out her changes in opinion. Before Clinton went to Michigan last year to endorse candidates, America Rising PAC, an anti-Clinton communication and research group, questioned Clinton's "phony populism on free trade."

"A peculiar thing happens every time Hillary Clinton decides to run for President," the group said in a blog post. "Her views on free trade start sliding left and she calls for a 'time out' on free trade agreements."

These Republican attacks - and more likely to come - show the political problem Clinton faces. If she runs for President, she will either have to woo labor and liberal leaders by blasting agreements like TPP and NAFTA and risk looking like she is backtracking on her State Department years. Or she can embrace deals that she made at State and risk what has become eager liberal anger.

TPP likely to be left for next president

For all the comparisons, though, the TPP would actually be a much different -- and more comprehensive -- trade deal than NAFTA was.

Older pacts have mostly dealt with moving goods into and out of countries. But in the 12-country Pacific Rim deal, U.S. negotiators are pushing for rules that would help companies -- especially pharmaceutical drug-makers -- extend their patents and copyrights for much longer periods, keeping generic medicines off poorer foreign countries' markets.

They're working to create a tribunal that would give corporations a venue to challenge whether governments' rules and regulations are in line with their obligations under the trade deal.

And they're crafting chapters on environmental protections, labor rights and the digital economy. They're trying to prevent countries from restricting where data servers can be located, or what data companies can move across international borders.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will play a key role in negotiating the final details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership with President Barack Obama's administration.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, like NAFTA, includes Canada and Mexico. But the deal's real pearl is Japan -- a potentially huge market for U.S. food, natural gas and more. It's a wealthy economy that American businesses haven't been able to crack.

But Japan is bogged down by its own political challenges. The country's agricultural interests are especially influential in its legislature, and they've resisted opening their ports to American rice, beef, pork and wheat -- which, in turn, has infuriated U.S. farmers. For more than a year, it's been a huge sticking point that has delayed progress on the deal.

That's why the Trans-Pacific Partnership debate isn't going away.

Trade agreements take years to come together. Even after the presidents and prime ministers announce they've struck a deal, the wording must be scrubbed and translated into each country's language -- a process that takes months. Then legislatures, where anger about their lack of a role in the negotiations has often simmered for years, might insist on changes. Different countries' elections and changing political tides can complicate things even more.